Preventable epidemic

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by Kristian Gravenor

This Wednesday was International Diabetes Day and it sure didn't come and go without some seriously worrisome signs about the future of our collective health. Diabetes, which impairs the processing of insulin necessary to feed cells, is growing fast enough to officially be classified as an epidemic in the province, according to Marc Aras of the 49-year-old Quebec Diabetes Association.

The half-million Quebeckers already plagued by the disease, which can cause symptoms from blindness to erectile dysfunction, is expected to double within 25 years unless people start drastically changing their ways. Aras says that up to half of new cases could be avoided through prevention, which means less fat intake and more exercise, as 80 per cent of those who develop type-2 diabetes (which comes on typically after age 40) are considered overweight or obese.

He says the disease costs Quebec taxpayers $2-billion a year and one in five hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from one of the various complications of diabetes. Although seven per cent of Quebeckers have the disease--with 30,000 news cases announced every year--our rate remains just over half that of Mexico, which leads the world at a dozen per cent. Aras says a bit of exercise and food restraint could go far in preventing new cases. "It's often just a question of quantity. Like, rather than eating half a pizza, deciding to eat a quarter of a pizza." :